The explosive energy of Diesel

Vin Diesel, muscular star of The Fast and the Furious, talked to Ciara Dwyer about his career but she found herself distracted by his throatily sexy voice.

IF YOU were going to change your name to become a film star, there are a thousand names better than Vin Diesel. But that's what New York actor Mark Vincent decided on. God only knows why. It's a bizarre choice. Somebody gave Mark a bum steer when they said the new name sounded cool. But never mind the name; let's talk about the man and, more important, the voice. And what a voice ...

Vin Diesel's voice is so deep oh, so throatily deep it's more of an animal growl than anything else. Girls, have you ever woken up beside a man in the early morning when his voice is bass baritone with a touch of a sore throat? Well, that's what Vin's voice sounds like. All man. Vin speaks like Paul Robeson sings Old Man River.

Last week, Vin was in London to publicise his new film The Fast and the Furious. He swaggered into the room in a shiny grey silk suit and crisp white shirt. He looked like he had taken a trip or two to the gym.

Pumping iron does not always create beauty. Look at the stomach-churning bulk that is Arnold Schwarzenegger's body: clumps of rippling walnut muscles piled one on top of the other. Body-builders have thick rugby-player necks and bodies that look like they have been blown up to unnatural proportions. Grotesque. But the gym wasn't always such a harmful place. When the Greeks concentrated on body-building, their bodies were truly beautiful. Strong and muscular but not too colossal.

Vin's body is of the Greek variety. We forget that gyms can create objects of beauty. And that is what Vin was in his suit, his muscles bulging slightly through the fabric. Banish that blue thought. I am talking about his biceps. Honest.

But Vin Diesel is hardly a household name. Not yet. The actor is working his way up the Hollywood ladder. He was one of the ensemble cast in Saving Private Ryan. (But if you can remember all those faces, God bless your trainspotter memory.)

Last year, he was in a great film called Boiler Room, which was a Wall Street for the 21st century. But for some unjust reason, it went straight to video on this side of the world. Odd, that, as it was a fine film with a good plot, well-written dialogue and a sharp New York rap soundtrack. Last year, Vin joined the league of actors who have box-office clout when he starred in the science-fiction thriller Pitch Black. The film pulled in the punters don't ask me why and now Vin's profile is becoming bigger.

The Fast and the Furious is about a bunch of fellas who are street racers. Vin plays Dominic Toretto, the leader of the pack, who is a tough man with a sensitive side. It sounds a bit @@STYL po,0 cheesy and it would be were it not for Vin's acting skills. There is one scene where he is explaining how his father was killed when his racing car exploded. These days, it is not often that actors get to have speeches, but Vin does and he manages to pull it off.

The actor may be all brawn, and slightly thuggish-looking brawn at that, with his shaved head and bouncer physique, but he has brains too. Since the age of seven, Vin has been acting: "The first time I acted professionally was for $20 in a theatre in New York city." There's more to that story than at first meets the eye he and his seven-year-old friends had broken into the theatre to vandalise it. A woman stopped them and offered them each a script and $20, on the condition that they would attend every day after school. He went on to study English at Hunter College, with a special interest in creative writing.

Vin belongs to the breed of actors who believe in making things happen for themselves. He wrote, starred in, directed and produced a short film, Multi-Facial, which was shown in the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. His full-length feature film Strays was selected for the Sundance Film Festival in 1997.

The Cannes and Sundance festivals may give an actor serious film credibility, but The Fast and the Furious could undo all that. The characters are predictable, and I would imagine it's the sort of film which plays to men who relish the thrill of looking at racing cars revving. The rush is a mixture of testosterone and adrenalin. But when asked about the cars in the film, Vin is delightfully new to the automobile game.

"I grew up in New York city, so it was skateboards and trains for me. No one really had the money to have a car. When I was in college, I had a motorbike and I did ridiculous things like go 155 miles an hour. But The Fast and the Furious was a training ground about car culture. You definitely got the adrenalin rush."

I could complain that The Fast and the Furious will have a load of young fellas out racing on the roads, getting their buzz from the speed and the loud music. But Vin admits that he is the opposite to his character. It is not cars which give him his thrill; rather it is his craft.

"I think film gives me the adrenalin rush," he says, "the whole excitement of making something out of nothing, something collaborative."

Asked what sort of a car-man he is, Vin is vague about engines and models. He sees driving as more than mere transport. "I think I need transportation time in LA to meditate. That's the one time you are completely alone. You can listen to what you want to listen to."

I've always thought that you can tell a person from their eyes. Diesel's berry-brown eyes are interesting and alert. You can see that he is bright, that the boy has depth. The Fast and the Furious may not be a brilliant film, but when it comes to choosing his films, Diesel is curious about character and moral questions.

"My mother said it was interesting that I chose films that semi-question morality. She said that when I was a kid, when I was five years old, I would always ask her if this character trait was good or bad. Does this make me a good person? And I think this has manifested itself in the choices I've made."

Diesel is an interesting actor. I want to see what he'll do with his career. In the press conference, he was thoughtful about his answers; sometimes he would pause and growl into the mike. And what a growl. Lucky the girl who wakes up to hear that.

* The Fast and the Furious opens in cinemas on September 14